Co-directed by Anita Wagner and Stephen Soumerai at the DACP, the
HMS Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Policy Research
trains clinician (e.g. MD, PharmD, RN) researchers, PhD students,
post-doctoral students, and mid-career professionals to become leaders in research on pharmaceutical policy
decisions. The Fellowship attracts a heterogeneous group of fellows from the U.S. and abroad, who actively
participate in research projects under the guidance of well-established investigators. They often evaluate desired
and undesired effects of medicines policies in the U.S. or other countries, with respect to access to cost,
affordability, outcomes, and quality of pharmaceutical care, particularly among vulnerable populations.

Fellows focused on international pharmaceutical policy research have to date evaluated the role of medicines
in community-based health insurance programs; effects of reimbursement changes and of the separation of dispensing and
prescribing in the Korean National Health Insurance System; performance indicators for medicines benefit packages;
and care seeking behavior and quality of prescribing in Bangkok slums. Fellows attend a biweekly Pharmaceutical
Policy Research Seminar in which they discuss pharmaceutical policy issues in the U.S. and other countries and
methodological issues in pharmaceutical policy research. Seminar syllabi, slide presentations, and background
readings are available at the Seminar website.
Multiple sponsors including the pharmaceutical industry (through unrestricted educational grants) support the
HMS Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Policy Research.

A list of Pharmaceutical Policy Research Fellows and descriptions of their research projects and papers
can be found here.